Saturday, November 29, 2008

It is shocking but not altogether surprising that British-born Muslims were involved in the terrible slaughter in Mumbai. For years Britain has been an exporter of Islamist terrorism. The Government has shamefully failed to prevent hardline clerics coming to Britain to pollute young minds with their hate-filled creed. It has also failed to prevent young British Muslims travelling to madrasas in Pakistan for radicalization and terrorist training. Labor’s relaxation of immigrant marriage rules in 1997 left many British-born Muslims exposed to massive family pressure to marry people living in the Indian sub-continent to allow so-called “chain migration” to take place. This has increased the isolation of Muslim communities in Britain, increased the number of households where English is not spoken and fostered a sense of cultural alienation. So this Government’s lax immigration policies have created the conditions in which jihadist views can flourish. The mass murder that took place in London on July 7, 2005, was mainly organized and carried out by British-born Pakistanis. It should have served as a final warning that the failed creed of multiculturalism and the terror trail to Pakistan both needed closing down. The Government has failed to complete either task. India has paid the price for such negligence. Sooner or later Britain will pay the price again.

A Muslim charity says it collected more than 300 bodies, and fatalities are also expected from other ethnic groups, mainly Christians. There is no official confirmation yet, and figures are notoriously unreliable in Nigeria. Clashes broke out after a disputed local election which has divided the town on social fault lines. Police have imposed a 24-hour curfew and the army is patrolling the streets of the town of Jos, capital of Plateau State. They have been given orders to shoot on sight in an effort to quell the bloodshed, some of the most serious in Nigeria in recent years. The Nigerian Red Cross says at least 10,000 people have fled their homes. The mostly Christian-backed governing party in Plateau state, the People's Democratic Party, was declared to have won the state elections. The result was contested by the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has support from Muslims. Violence started with singing and burning of tyres on the roads by groups of youths over reports of election rigging. Bodies from the Muslim Hausa community were brought into the mosque compound from the streets where they had been killed. The local imam said that their number is "in the hundreds". The Christian casualties are usually taken to the hospital morgues, but no clear figure has emerged for the number of their fatalities. Despite the overnight curfew, groups in some areas took to the streets again, as soon as patrols had passed by. In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religious clashes in the city. Communal violence in Nigeria is complex, but it often boils down to competition for resources such as land between those that see themselves as indigenous versus the more recent settlers. In Plateau State, Christians are regarded as being indigenous and Hausa-speaking Muslims the settlers.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Certain ethnic groups contract malaria more seldom than others, even though the disease may be prevalent in the area. The Fulani people in Africa are one example of this. In a dissertation at the Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Elisabeth Israelsson presents some important genetic differences between the Fulani and other peoples that live in the same area that may be of great importance for the development of effective protection against malaria.

Five people have died from cholera in South Africa, after crossing from Zimbabwe, where a recent outbreak has killed more than 300 people. Anthony Turton has said that unless South Africa increased its spending on water, it was heading for disaster. In the decades since the 1980s, spending on treatment works, pump stations, reservoirs and other items has fallen sharply. In the 1980s it hit 40,000m rand ($4,080m). By the 1990s this had fallen to around 17,000m rand ($1,734m) and then to about 4,000m rand ($408m) in the 2000s. This fall, says Turton, was matched by a skills shortage. Qualified engineers, most of whom were white, were not replaced by younger, men and women. Many are now close to retirement age, and younger whites, says Turton, have been discouraged by affirmative action and many have simply left the country. As a result, Turton argues, South Africa is faced with increasing problems of water quality.

Indian news channel NDTV said two suspected Islamic militants arrested by commandos were “British citizens of Pakistani origin”. The gunmen were among eight captured after they launched co-ordinated attacks on 10 targets, including an orthodox Jewish center, two hotels and the city's packed railway station. Fresh gunfire and explosions have been reported at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where Indian commandos are attempting to free hostages. And at the headquarters of ultra-orthodox Jewish group, Chabad House, five hostages are dead and two terrorists have been killed.

Variations in the gene for serotonin transport may affect drinking habits in alcoholics, according to Neurobiology Prof. Ming D. Li’s recent study. Li said he hopes information collected during the study will contribute to the development of better alcoholism treatments in the future. Working with 275 alcoholics, Li and his colleagues studied six single nucleotide polymorphisms, variations in the sequence of DNA, and found that a region on one SNP variant showed a significant association with the volume of drinks that alcoholics consume. The variant may influence serotonin levels in the brain, Li said, noting that scientists believe human bodies use serotonin for emotion and mood regulation, REM sleep and other various brain mechanisms. Researchers have found that alcohol increases serotonin levels in the brain. One hypothesis, Li said, is that if a variant in the gene for serotonin transport deprives alcoholics of serotonin, alcoholics may start drinking to alleviate the deficiency. Li said scientists for years have drawn a correlation between this particular gene, which controls serotonin transport, and alcoholism. Until now, however, no one had discovered a direct connection between variations in the gene and alcoholic behavior. Li said when an SNP changes the expression level of a gene and results in a change in function, it is defined as a “functional variant.” His research demonstrated that a functional variant can affect behavior, he said. “The whole human genetic feud is about trying to find what genetic variant is important,” Li said. The study focused on how the gene for serotonin transport affected the volume of alcohol consumed. “If you take alcoholics, they’re a very heterogeneous group,” research associate Chamindi Seneviratne said. “There are differences in their drinking, so what we wanted to do was to see if we could subgroup them into a higher drinking alcoholic group and a group that’s not drinking so heavily.” Seneviratne said she defined a heavy drinker as a male who consumes more than five alcoholic drinks per day or a female who consumes more than four. All of the test subjects were classified as heavy drinkers, she added. The study found that if an alcoholic has the variant in his or her serotonin-transport gene, he or she has a higher risk of consuming more alcohol than a person without it, Li said, noting that knowing more about these genetic variations will allow researchers to determine how to better treat individuals. Li said anti-depressants could assist in treatment because these drugs make more serotonin for the brain. The study also examined potential differences between men and women. Though previous studies have suggested that estrogen levels in females play a role in the expression of the serotonin-transport gene, Li and his colleagues found no difference in the variant between men and women. The research group does not, however, know whether the functional variant spans ethnic groups. Seneviratne said all of the individuals studied were of European descent. “According to research published in different areas, we have seen that there are different frequencies of different genotypes among different ethnic groups,” Seneviratne said. Li also stressed the importance of further research in the ethnic aspect of the study. “We don’t know if there would be differences,” Li said. “Right now, it is important to see if this variant is functional in other ethnic groups."

Former First Nations leader David Ahenakew insists he's not an anti-Semite, telling his hate crime trial he doesn't "hate the Jews but I hate what they do" - and he still believes Jews started the Second World War. But although he testified he "never" would have used the words he did had he planned out a 2002 speech in which he blames the Jews for the Second World War, he hasn't changed his mind. "I didn't mean to bring the Jews into this thing. It just happened," he testified about the speech. Ahenakew, testifying in his retrial on a charge of inciting hatred, attempted to explain that, while making a speech at a Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations health conference on Dec. 13, 2002, he was trying to express his outrage about the erosion of health-treaty rights and wanted to emphasize the point with an example. In a wide-ranging, profanity-laced, speech at the conference, Ahenakew expressed anger at the federal government for off-loading treaty issues to the provincial government. He also deviated briefly from his main topic to talk about how, when he was in the army as a young man, he was stationed in Germany. "Germans used to tell me . . . 'You guys are blessed. From what we know about the Indians in Canada, they are blessed. But your blessing is being destroyed by your immigrants, especially the Jews,' they say. The Second World War was created by the Jews." Ahenakew said he didn't think before using the Germans and Jews as an example in the speech. Ahenakew is charged in connection with a Dec. 13, 2002, interview with former Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter James Parker, in which Ahenakew said Hitler was "trying to clean up the world" when he "fried" 6 million Jews.

Obama's 52.6% of the total vote was derived from 40.17% of the European-American vote and from 80.26% of the non-European vote. On the other hand, McCain's 46.5% of the total vote consisted of 59.12% of the Euro-American vote and 18.42% of the non-European vote.

The punishment is legal under the Islamic Sharia code of qias or equivalence, which allows retribution for violent crimes. The court also ordered the attacker, 27-year-old Majid Movahedi, to pay compensation to the victim. The acid attack took place in 2004. The victim, Ameneh Bahrami, went to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed. The ruling was a response to her plea to the court in the Iranian capital Tehran for retribution. "Ever since I was subject to acid being thrown on my face, I have a constant feeling of being in danger," she told the court. Bahrami also said that Movahedi had also threatened to kill her.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating whether medications like Dilantin, Phenytek and Cerebyx, which are used to control epileptic seizures, can lead to severe skin blisters and bleeding for some Asian patients. Patients who test positive for a gene known as HLA-B1502 appear to be at increased risk of developing the skin problems, preliminary data indicate. About 10% to 15% of patients from parts of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines may carry the gene, as do 2% to 4% of South Asians, including Indians. The FDA urged doctors to monitor patients closely, but said there is not enough information yet to recommend genetic testing. In most cases, patients who develop the skin problems do so in the first few months after starting to take the medications. Because of the problem with skin reactions, the FDA in 2007 recommended genetic testing for Asian patients taking another epilepsy drug, carbamazepine, sold under several brand names including Tegretol and Carbatrol. Doctors should also avoid Dilantin and the other medications for patients who have already tested positive for the gene, the FDA said.

Another was given a life sentence at a mass court hearing in the southern city of Guangzhou. The convicted smugglers are from Uganda, Benin and Zimbabwe. A two-year reprieve means their sentence can be commuted into a life sentence after two years of good behavior. Six of the smugglers had drugs found hidden inside their bodies. The government has admitted it is facing an uphill struggle dealing with a flood of drugs coming across its borders, mainly from Southeast and central Asia.

It says that around a quarter of the female population faces domestic violence. But the study showed many Cambodians think it can be acceptable for a husband to assault his wife. The Ministry of Women's Affairs released its findings to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Long-held prejudices are combining with new forms of anti-social behavior to put young women and girls at particular risk, the report says. It said that the increasing use of drugs and alcohol by men is having a direct impact on the safety of female Cambodians. It suggests that gang rape is being treated as a "sport" in some areas - and that law enforcement agencies need to do more to stop it.

MPs were allowed a free vote, rather than having to vote along party lines. Jamaica has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1988 but the governing Jamaica Labor Party, elected in 2007, has pushed for its return. Jamaica currently has nine men on death row. There have been 1,200 murders on the island so far in 2008. The vote followed weeks of passionate debate. Thirty-four members of parliament voted in favor of capital punishment, 15 voted against. There were 10 abstentions. Those opposed wanted improvements to Jamaica's heavily criticized police and justice system, while those in favor pointed to the ever-upward rise in violent crime. The Jamaica Labor Party was elected with a call to resume hanging immediately. Concerns had been raised about the risk of sanctions - primarily from the EU - but Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that if due legal process was observed, then the law should take its course.

The Democratic Alliance allege the ceremony at an office in the capital, Pretoria, will cost more than $70,000. "While we acknowledge the importance of spirituality in people's lives, these costs seem totally disproportionate," the DA's John Moodey said. There has been no comment so far from the intelligence services. According to the DA, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has asked 25 traditional healers - known as sangomas - to perform the ceremony. Each of the sangomas is to be paid 30,000 rand ($3,000, £2,000), the party said. "One wonders why such heavyweight cleansing ceremonies are necessary and whether this means immoral or illegal acts are being carried out there," Mr Moodey is quoted by South Africa's Times newspaper as saying. South Africa has more than 200,000 traditional healers and more than half the population is believed to consult them.

Using data from 83 countries, the group found that the probability of a young person being murdered in Latin America is 30 times higher than in Europe. The grimmest figures are for El Salvador, where the murder rate among young people is 92 per 100,000 people. A key factor there is the presence of violent youth gangs, the report says. The study, called Map of Violence: The Young People of Latin America, was compiled by researchers at the Latin American Technological Information Network, Ritla. The Brasilia-based group compared murder rates for 2007 in 83 countries, both for the overall population and for the 15-to-24 age bracket. "The probability of a young Latin American being a murder victim is 30 times higher than for a European, and more than 70 times greater than for young people in countries like Greece, Hungary, England, Austria... or Ireland," the report said. The comparative study found that the murder rate for young people was 36.6 for every 100,000 people in Latin America while in Africa it was 16.1, North America 12, Asia 2.4, Oceania 1.6 and Europe 1.2, although there are variations within a particular region. The report also found that the top four countries for youth murder rates also headed the overall murder rate table: El Salvador (total murders per 100,000 - 48.8), Colombia (43.8), Venezuela (29.5) and Guatemala (28.5). Brazil occupies fifth place for youth murders and sixth for the overall murder rate at 25.2. The lowest youth murder rates in Latin America were in Chile, Cuba and Uruguay, all with around seven killings per 100,000. The Ritla report notes that as well as El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala have also seen what it calls "drastic" increases in murder rates. Part of this is due to the presence of youth gangs, known as maras, which are prevalent in Central America. But the study says the region also has a long history of armed internal and external conflict.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 41, who denied all the charges, was convicted more than five years after Hannah was found strangled. She had been walking a short distance home after a night out in Southampton when she went missing on 14 March 2003. Her body was found two days later. Her father, Trevor Foster, called Kohli a cold, calculating and ruthless man. "Today we are feeling an overwhelming sense of relief at the verdict in this trial," he added. "We have long realised that Kohli is a cold, calculating and totally ruthless man and has destroyed so many people's life without a second thought." Kohli snatched the teenager from a street yards from her home in Southampton after she had spent an evening with friends. The A-level student called 999 in the hope an operator would hear what was happening, but the call was terminated when she did not speak. Kohli dumped her body next to a road in Allington Lane, West End, and went back home to his wife and two sons. Four days later, he fled to India, where he led a life on the run for 16 months before being arrested. While in custody in India he gave a televised confession which he later retracted. After more than four years of campaigning by Hannah's parents Hilary and Trevor Foster, Kohli was finally extradited back to Britain in 2007 to stand trial. In a victim impact statement read to the court by Hannah's aunt Jill Lewis, Hannah's mother Hilary said she would feel guilt for the rest of her life that she was not there to protect her daughter when she was murdered. "Kohli ripped out my heart and stamped on it," she said.

A special Government unit dedicated to stopping teenagers being married off by their families dealt with 300 cases in the first half of this year, up from 168 in the same period of 2007. But the head of the Forced Marriage Unit, based at the Foreign Office, fears this could be just the tip of the iceberg as many victims are too scared to come forward and communities often close up to hide what is going on. Wayne Ives also warned that heads of families are going to extreme lengths to get their children to marry, in some instances posing as officials to kidnap runaway brides or paying people to track them down. His comments came as a new law comes into effect, which will make it easier for courts to stop ceremonies going ahead if it is feared that the bride and groom are being married against their wills. A separate law will see the minimum age at which foreigners can come to Britain to get married being increased. Despite the drive to tackle forced marriages, however, many feel it is still taboo because of fears of criticizing immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are involved in most cases. Schools have refused to discuss so-called honor crimes in case they cause offence to ethnic minorities or religions, while MPs have been accused of failing to highlight forced marriage in case they lose Muslim votes. In a recent speech to a Capita conference, Mr Ives told delegates: "We are talking about endemic abuse of the worst kind against young men and women which is happening right here and right now." He said the mere fact that a teenage girl is seen wearing a short skirt or having a boyfriend can be enough for her relatives to decide she has betrayed the family and must be forced to marry someone they deem acceptable, while others make disabled children get married so they can have a carer in a "warped form of altruism". In total, 90% of cases dealt with in Britain involve Bangladeshi or Pakistani families, but investigators are uncovering growing numbers of forced marriages involving Iranians, Turks, Kurds and Somalis.

He doesn't wear a uniform and carry a gun, but Imam Hassan Mohamud considers himself a peace officer. Like other Somali activists, the spiritual leader is struggling with the dramatic violent crime increase in his community. Since December 2007, 7 Somali men under 30 have been slain in the Twin Cities. The motive in three of the cases may have been retaliation. Deqa Muhidin had been able to distance herself from the crimes until her cousin, a 20-year-old student at Augsburg College, was shot in the head in September 2008 because he allegedly told the killer he couldn't play basketball at his community center. The Somali crime problem has become a high priority for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who said he has spent much time meeting with top city leaders and community outreach workers to discuss how to apply the city's youth violence prevention plan to the Somali community. "Community leaders and police are saying we've reached a point where we need to do things right now," said Police Chief Tim Dolan, who was at the meeting. Muhidin's small piece to the solution was to gather five of her Somali friends at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and put together a youth anti-violence conference being held today in St. Paul. Besides Mohamud, the speaker list includes well-known former rapper Napoleon, who quit the business several years ago and converted to Islam. "I wouldn't want this for my kids or anybody's kids," said Napoleon, who now goes by his birth name Mutah Beale. "The Somalis came to this country to get away from the violence and make a better life, but some are going down the wrong path. It doesn't make sense."

The CQ Press City Crime Rankings list named New Orleans its most crime-ridden city based on a reported 19,000-plus incidences of six major crimes -- including 209 murder cases -- in 2007. The Gulf Coast city of about 250,000, still grappling with the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, was followed in the rankings by Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California. The data is drawn from FBI statistics on murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft.

Health protection experts estimate there are now 77,400 people with HIV in Britain. There were more than 7,000 new diagnoses in 2007 - a rise of 6% on the previous year. Almost a third of people are diagnosed late - meaning they are missing the benefits of early treatment. Gay men accounted for 41% of new cases, but the Health Protection Agency said heterosexual transmission is steadily increasing too. The estimated number of people infected through heterosexual contact within Britain has nearly doubled from 540 new diagnoses in 2003 to 960 in 2007. The bulk of the 4,260 new heterosexual cases were acquired abroad. Lisa Power, of the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said the fact that so many people were unaware that they were infected with HIV posed a serious threat to public health. She said: "Not only is this dangerous to their own health, but they are more likely to pass the virus on than someone who has been diagnosed. Gay men and African people are most likely to have undiagnosed HIV in the UK so we would urge people in those groups in particular to recognise their level of risk and get tested for HIV regularly." Overall, 31% of people diagnosed last year were diagnosed very late - perhaps years after infection.

The album, called Take Charge, encourages people to report criminals in their neighbourhoods to the police. "Politicians don't like to admit it but art has a broader and deeper reach than political rhetoric," said Gauteng's provincial minister Firoz Cachalia. Nearly 20,000 people died as a result of violent crime last year. The album is dedicated to Lucky Dube, the South African reggae singer gunned down in a carjacking in 2007.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Congolese security forces had deliberately killed more than 500 people in a campaign against opposition groups. HRW said the abuses were attracting scant attention because everyone was focusing on the conflict in the east. More than 250,000 people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in August 2008 between government troops and rebels loyal to Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda. In its report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused President Joseph Kabila's government of "brutal repression" following elections in July 2006 aimed at bringing democracy to the country after years of fighting. Five hundred perceived opponents had been killed since then and another 1,000 had been detained - many of whom reported being tortured, it said.

A Toronto jury that has begun deliberations in a cocaine trafficking case was never told that one of the accused is an international "ecstasy kingpin" whose life story is the subject of a Hollywood film project. In 2001, Sean Erez, now 38, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy in Brooklyn, N.Y., after admitting to running an ecstasy distribution network that used young Orthodox Jews to smuggle the "hug drug" out of Amsterdam and into the U.S. The Israeli-born Erez, who had previous drug convictions, was sentenced to 15 years in a U.S. prison. In 2005, Ottawa approved his transfer to a Canadian facility and he was paroled in the summer of that year. His notoriety is such that a quick Google search turns up various accounts of the infamous scheme attributed to Erez, who figured customs officials would never suspect young Hasidic Jews of serving as drug couriers. "The recruiters believed that these couriers would not attract the attention of customs inspectors because of their conservative background and their religious dress and appearance," said a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. "The recruiters exploited the youth and relatively sheltered background of their recruits by falsely telling them that they would be smuggling diamonds." According to the popular Internet Movie Database, Montreal-born moviemaker Ian Kessner is developing a feature film called Glow, "based on the real life story of ecstasy kingpin Sean Erez." Kessner could not be reached for comment. But Nataly Abitan, Erez's ex-girlfriend – and the Crown's key witness in the cocaine case – is listed as a "friend" on Kessner's Facebook page. Erez's latest trouble with the law began on a visit to Toronto in the summer of 2006 when he was shot in the stomach and legs at the upscale Westin Harbour Castle hotel on the waterfront. Police later charged Erez and another man, Evgene Starchik, 26, of British Columbia, with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Scientists said they had for the first time mapped the genetic code of the Australian marsupials and found much of it was similar to the genome for humans, the government-backed Center of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics said. "There are a few differences, we have a few more of this, a few less of that, but they are the same genes and a lot of them are in the same order," center Director Jenny Graves told reporters in Melbourne. "We thought they'd be completely scrambled, but they're not. There is great chunks of the human genome which is sitting right there in the kangaroo genome," Graves said. Humans and kangaroos last shared an ancestor at least 150 million years ago, the researchers found, while mice and humans diverged from one another only 70 million years ago. Kangaroos first evolved in China, but migrated across the Americas to Australia and Antarctica. "Kangaroos are hugely informative about what we were like 150 million years ago," Graves said.

The Holocaust denier, Frederick Toben, has been released from custody after the German government gave up its legal battle to extradite him from Britain. The controversial historian was arrested at Heathrow in October 2008 on a European arrest warrant accusing him of racism and anti-Semitism. German prosecutors were then forced to appeal to the High Court after a British Court refused to hand him over. Kevin Lowry-Mullins, Dr Toben's solicitor, has confirmed that the appeal had been withdrawn and he had signed a consent order with the German government to end the case. Under Section 130 of the German criminal code, holocaust denial is illegal and offenders can face up to five years in jail, but the case caused unease in Britain where there is no such law. Attempts to extradite him were seen by many as an assault on free speech.

Someone left a comment on Half Sigma's blog that Japanese women are not having sex because they'd prefer more macho, and socially dominant men. Few of them exist in Japan, because modern industrial nations depend on male cooperation not "Big Men" that women desire.

If reliable, these five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) would be especially important for black patients, or men of any race with a family history of prostate cancer. These two groups have a twofold to sevenfold increased chance of developing the disease, experts note. The research is scheduled to be presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual conference on cancer prevention in Washington, D.C. "There have been years of effort to try to identify genes and genetic mutations associated with prostate cancer, as there are [such genes] for breast cancer," Dr. Veda N. Giri, director of the Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment Program (PRAP) at Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, explained in a news release issued by the conference organizers. "Prostate cancer is a more genetically complex disease." The study included 700 men with either one first-degree relative with prostate cancer or two second-degree relatives with prostate cancer on the same side of the family. Giri and colleagues said they found similarities in these five genetic markers among high-risk white men and those already diagnosed with prostate cancer. The findings were even more profound among black men. "When we compared African-American men in PRAP to the high-risk Caucasian men in PRAP, we did find a difference," she said. "African-American men tended to carry more of these genetic risk markers compared to the Caucasian men. Since African-American men carry more of these particular genetic markers, they may be more informative for prostate cancer risk assessment in African-American men."

Non-small cell lung tumors tend to have a different genetic makeup in blacks than in whites, a finding that may explain why treatment and outcomes are different among races, a new study says. In blacks, the tumors are more likely to carry more copies of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene and fewer mutations of EGFR itself, according to researchers who presented their findings Nov. 13 at the 2008 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology. Previous studies have shown that more copies, regardless of mutation, predict patient responses to EGFR inhibitor drugs, such as erlotinib and gefitinib, the researchers said. Blacks with this type of lung cancer typically do not fare well, based on past studies. "The findings of this study were surprising, since it was not expected that drug-sensitizing EGFR mutations would be so rare in this patient population," study co-author Dr. Rom Leidner, a clinical fellow in hematology/oncology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said in a news release issued by the conference organizers.

A black man from Mississippi has been arrested and accused of sending racist death threats over the Internet to three black students at Louisiana's Nicholls State University. The FBI in New Orleans said Dyron Hart, 19, has been arrested. He is accused of sending the messages by way of the students' Facebook accounts. The messages contained racial epithets and death threats and were sent to two black women and a black man at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La. The author of those messages cast himself as a white man who intended to kill blacks because Barack Obama was elected president. Hart told an FBI agent that he sent the messages to "get a reaction," according to the agent's sworn statement. The criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said Hart made his initial court appearance in Biloxi. It was unclear when he would be brought to New Orleans. Although the case sprang from a probe into messages sent to the three Nicholls State students, the FBI agent's statement said Hart also admitted sending the message to students at other institutions, including LSU, the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama. An FBI news release said Hart, if convicted, would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Repeatedly using an obscenity and the N-word, the author of the message threatens to kill more than 3,000 black people in a month because of Obama's election and warns the recipient of a pending attack from "a random white man," according to the agent's affidavit. Colton Brodoux was the name of the person who purportedly sent the messages. "Hart admitted that he created the Colton Brodoux profile on Facebook," the FBI affidavit said. The document details how the FBI traced the messages back to a computer at Hart's Poplarville address in Mississippi.

The fire in a power cable tunnel under the streets of Johannesburg raged for seven hours before fire services could put it out. Electricity company City Power says it is still too hot to get into the tunnel to repair the damage. A spokesman said the fire could have been caused by thieves stealing cables. The power will not be back on for several days, the company said. Cable theft is a common cause of power cuts in South Africa.

Linda Costelloe-Baker, the independent visa monitor, told the Home Affairs Committee it was reasonable to assume 15% of short-term approvals were wrong. She also said officials were under pressure to issue - rather than reject - visas to meet productivity targets. The Tories said it made a mockery of Labor's claims to control immigration. Embassies and consulates examine 2.4 million applications each year from tourists, business people and those visiting relatives - they check applicants intend to leave after their visa expires and have enough money to live in the country and are not looking for a job, Ms Costelloe-Baker told the committee. Rejected applications were checked for accuracy but there was not a similar system in place to check applications that were approved, said Ms Costelloe-Baker. "About 80% of visas are issued and yet there has been no external scrutiny over that 80%." Officials considering visa applications found it much easier to approve visas than reject them, she said because issuing was a much faster process than refusal. "I don't think there has been adequate scrutiny of decisions to issue," she said, adding: "I think there is pressure to issue visas because it helps people hit their productivity targets." Conservative MP David Davies asked if it was reasonable to assume that, if 15% of rejections were found to be incorrect, a similar proportion of approvals were incorrectly approved. "I think that's a reasonable supposition," Ms Costelloe-Baker said, adding that that total would include cases where an applicant rightly got a visa but where there were errors in the way the visa was approved. Mr Davies continued: "I'm trying to make an assumption here which is reasonable based on the evidence and that is that a large number of visa applications have been incorrectly approved in the country where they were requested." Ms Costelloe-Baker said: "I think that's a reasonable assumption."

Monday, November 17, 2008

Bilal Abdulla, 29, is alleged to have crashed into the airport in a Jeep laden with petrol and gas canisters. The defense has said that Dr Abdulla and friend Kafeel Ahmed, 28, wanted to highlight the plight of people in Iraq and Afghanistan with a series of incendiary device attacks in June 2007. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard Dr Abdulla had told police in Scotland "something along those lines" that he was a terrorist shortly after being arrested. Dr Abdulla told the court: "Everyone was saying you are a terrorist, you are arrested under the Terrorism Act and so forth. That is my case in a nutshell. I am told I am a terrorist, but is your government not a terrorist, is your army not a terrorist? By the definition of the Act, according to English law, yes. That is my aim to change opinion using violence, using fire devices." Dr Abdulla told the jury that after attacks on London's West End had failed, he planned to flee to Iraq, via Turkey, because it would be "much easier to disappear" in a lawless country.

Tina Davila was the mother of five who was murdered in April 2008 in Houston during an attempted car hijacking. She was stabbed as she resisted in order to protect her baby in a car seat. The killer was a previously arrested illegal alien, Timoteo Rios, who readily admitted his status when he was first booked in 2007 for marijuana possession.

Albinos in the region have been targeted because of a belief peddled by witchdoctors that their body parts can be used for magic potions. The girl was the sixth person with albinism to be killed in Burundi since September 2008. There have also been a number of attacks in neighboring Tanzania. The latest attack took place in Burundi's eastern province of Ruyigi. The child and her family had only just returned to their family home. Armed attackers broke into the family home and tied up the girl's parents before shooting her in the head, local officials say. They had been among a group of about 50 people with albinism to have fled to a provincial center because they feared for her safety.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The party took a seat in the Lincolnshire market town of Boston, where migrants make up a quarter of the population. Leftists claimed that the win would lead to scaremongering about foreigners and an increase in violence and threats. It is the first district council seat in Lincolnshire, for the British National Party.

The 18-year-old - named as Rebecca K - had carved a swastika on her own thigh, the court concluded, rejecting her claim that neo-Nazis had done it. In February 2008 she had received an award from a Berlin association campaigning against far-right violence. She claimed four men had attacked her in November 2007 in the town of Mittweida. In its ruling the court in Hainichen, eastern Germany, ordered her to do 40 hours of community service. Doctors who examined her had testified that the swastika appeared to be a self-inflicted wound. She was 17 - a minor - when she made her report to the police. She claimed that she had gone to the aid of an immigrant child and that four neo-Nazis had thrown her to the ground and carved the swastika on her. Investigators failed to find any witnesses to corroborate her story. Her story made headlines across Germany at the time, prompting soul-searching about a rise in neo-Nazi violence.

Montgomery County sheriff's deputies said 40-year-old Elena Ducoing has been arrested after a six-month investigation. Ducoing is a first-grade teacher at Greenleaf Elementary School in the Splendora Independent School District. Investigators said they seized several computers, 10 pounds of marijuana, 3 grams of cocaine, a money-counting machine, $2,300 in cash and other items used to package and transport money and drugs. Detectives said Ducoing's husband, Roberto Munoz, has strong ties to one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels, Los Zetas/Gulf Cartel. He was arrested in September 2008. Members of the Los Zetas/Gulf Cartel are believed to be responsible for numerous murders, kidnappings and other violent crimes in Mexico and in the United States.

The boy re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal after retreating there for more than a year, officials say. Ram Bomjan, 18, appeared near the town of Nijgadh, about 160km (100 miles) south of the capital, Kathmandu. His followers claim that he is an incarnation of Lord Buddha, who was born in the Nepalese town of Lumbini more than 2,500 years ago. Bomjan - sometimes known as "Little Buddha" - made international headlines in 2005 when tens of thousands of people gathered to see him sitting cross-legged under a tree for nearly 10 months, reportedly without food or water. Since then he has disappeared into the jungle and re-emerged several times. Officials say that hundreds of devotees, including many from neighbouring India, trekked to see him. "He spoke to the devotees standing near a temple in the forest," Prakash Sen said after a visit to the site. "He had shoulder-length hair and had his body wrapped in a white cloth. Since many people are walking to see him, I think he has some of the qualities Lord Buddha had." Officials say that Bomjan plans to talk to his followers for a few hours every day for a week before returning to the jungle to meditate. Correspondents say that Buddhist priests are divided on whether the boy is truly the reincarnation of Buddha. There has been no official confirmation that he carries that status. Most Buddhists believe that Buddha himself cannot be reincarnated. However people have worshipped the teenager since he was first seen meditating in the jungle, where he sat for months, motionless with his eyes closed among the roots of a tree. Buddhism is practiced by about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia.

Chinese-built NigComSat-1 cost the African oil producer $340m (£228m). The Nigerian government said insurance would pay for a replacement and Nigerians should still be proud of the country's satellite program. But telecoms experts said it was a "white elephant in space" and the whole operation was a "debacle". NigComSat-1 was launched 18 months ago to much fanfare from the government, but it has been mired in controversy ever since. Controllers have shut the satellite down because it was having problems with its power supply, the government announced. The satellite was meant to provide communications for government agencies and broadband Internet. "This has been a real debacle from day one," a telecoms engineer said. The satellite was limited because the type of frequency it used was disturbed by clouds in the atmosphere, and did not work properly in Nigeria's rainy season or during the Harmattan, when clouds of dust blow down from the Sahara. The satellite also operated on frequencies already allocated to other companies and interfered with other providers' equipment. Local media initially reported that the satellite had "gone missing". But then Minister of State for Science and Technology Alhassan Zaku told journalists it had lost power and had to be "parked, like you would park a car". "If it wasn't parked and it lost all its power there would be no energy to even move it and it would be like a loose cannon and would keep rolling about and hit other satellites in the orbit," he said. According to analysts, Nigeria has made nearly $2 trillion in oil revenues over the last 30 years, but its population are mostly poor. Africa's most populous nation lacks basic infrastructure like power and water, and many Nigerians thought the satellite showed the government did not have its priorities right. The news that the satellite could not get enough power to run has led to jokes that, as one e-mail doing the rounds put it: Nigeria has "exported its electricity generation problems to space".

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the leaders of the group which is illegally occupying the seat of Thai government, claimed in a recent televised speech that a wicked wizard has blocked the protective power of some of Bangkok's holiest sites. Sondhi and his so called People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) claim that they are protecting Thailand and its monarchy from allegedly corrupt democratic politicians. The technique Sonhi used to break the alleged spell sounds extreme. He described how his own magicians removed six imaginary nails that had been placed around a towering royal statue in the city center to block its power. "I must thank the women of the PAD," he continued, "because after [the imaginary nails] were pulled out, to ensure they could not be replaced, they took sanitary napkins from menstruating women and placed them over the six points. Experts said the (evil wizards) were furious because they could not send their spirits back," Sondhi boasted, "Their magic was rendered ineffective!" In Thai superstition women's sexuality, and especially menstrual blood, is believed to have great destructive power. "People who don't like the PAD will think they have lost it and gone quite mad," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist. But he added, "A lot of Thai people believe in this." The PAD has occupied Government house since August 2008, demanding the government step down. In October, Queen Sirikit, wife of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol gave the movement her public support. Critics say that the PAD aims to disenfranchise the majority or poor voters whose power at the ballot box threatens the old elite. Sondhi has denied that he believes in black magic. Dressed in white and sprinkling Government House with holy water he told the Bangkok Post, "The rituals I performed are paying homage to sacred spirits and my respected teachers." Dr Thitinan said the magic is designed to appeal emotionally to supporters. "It's manipulation, it's spin, it's some genuine belief," he said. "Going around sprinkling holy water means things are not going your way, you want to chase the demons away."

The infected Jamaican reveller prowled nightclubs to pick up women and then spent almost a year unchecked in hospital where he looked for sex with vulnerable patients. Health officials have written to more than 400 women to warn them they might have the deadly virus after having unprotected sex with him. The immigrant, who arrived in Britain on a visitor's visa in 2002, has admitted he cannot remember how many woman he has slept with. He told doctors he had sex, which was often unprotected, with women he met in two nightclubs in Leicester - the now-defunct Dark Club and the Burlington Club. In December 2007, he was admitted to the Brandon mental health unit at Leicester General Hospital where he slept with fellow patients - possibly even in the unit. Doctors were told in May 2008 that his visa had expired and he was living in Britain illegally but the HIV danger only became known in the last few weeks.

The women were hacked with machetes when the attackers failed to find the two children. Albinos have been targeted in a series of killings around the country due to a belief their body parts can make magic potions more effective. At least 30 people with albinism have been killed since March 2008, including a seven-month old baby. Recently, attackers forced a woman to take them to her home, looking for her nine-year-old daughter in Kibondo District, close to the Burundi border. The girl was not in the house and so the men attacked the mother. In the second attack, a gang of four men broke into a house at the Lugufu camp in Kigoma, which hosts refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, looking for a child with albinism. The child, aged two, escaped kidnap after falling under the bed unnoticed. The women are undergoing treatment for their injuries. The attacks appear to have spread from north-western Tanzania, where they were first reported. The attacks also suggest that there is interest in albino body parts from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The Kigoma regional police commander said the attackers had fled and a manhunt was underway. The attacks on albinos have been linked to witchdoctors who are peddling the belief that potions made from an albino's legs, hair, hands, and blood can make a person rich.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Nader criticizes Obama for his "transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza."

The man was allegedly planning to sell his wife to two Congolese businessmen for around $3,000. Albinos have been living in fear in Tanzania after a series of killings due to a belief their body parts can make magic potions more effective. At least 27 people with albinism have been killed since March 2008, including a seven-month old baby. President Jakaya Kikwete ordered a police crackdown on those involved in the killings, and 170 witchdoctors have since been arrested. Investigations suggest that some police are being "bought off" in order to look away when such crimes are committed. Rukwa regional police commander Isunto Damian Mantage said the fisherman was arrested following a tip-off from an informer. His wife was not aware that he was planning to sell her off, police say. Mr Mantage says the wife's angry parents have decided to take back their daughter. The businessmen managed to escape arrest, and are suspected to have fled back to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The police have asked Interpol to help track them down. The recent attacks on albinos have been linked to witchdoctors who are peddling the belief that potions made from an albino's legs, hair, hands, and blood can make a person rich. Albinism affects one in 20,000 people worldwide, but in Tanzania the prevalence appears to be much higher.

Anti-foreigner violence in May 2008 forced an estimated 100,000 people from their homes in South Africa and was blamed for at least 62 deaths. One activist said foreigners were still too scared to return home from camps for displaced people in Cape Town. Another observer said that he expected the violence to escalate. Dr Loren Landau of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg said the violence was a nationwide phenomenon that had never gone away. The situation could further deteriorate as politicians vie for votes ahead of national elections next year, he said. One of the victims of the recent killings in Cape Town was an Ethiopian shopkeeper, Abdi Sirej, who had fled in May and recently been persuaded to return home. Those who knew him describe him as a quiet man, who did his best to get on with his neighbors. In a recent interview he said foreigners were being told to come back home but there was "no safety, no guarantee". The violence in May caused the worst bloodshed in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. It began in a township north of Johannesburg before spreading to other parts of the country. Some camps for displaced people around Johannesburg have been closed, with authorities there declaring that it was safe for people to return home despite protests from human rights groups. Camps in Cape Town are also supposed to have closed but two remain open, home to more than 700 people. Tracey Saunders, a volunteer working in one of the camps, said foreigners there thought they would be killed if they left. She said one woman had tried to go home twice, and had been attacked both times. "Another woman from the [Democratic Republic of Congo] who went back to the community she came from, and was raped and was told in no uncertain terms that if she came back she would be murdered and her children would be as well," she said.

A 17-year-old victim of two Asian men who ran a sex slavery ring in which they drugged and assaulted young white teenage girls said that she felt robbed of her innocence and childhood. Her encounters with Mirza Baig, 35, and Muhammad Ditta, 39, had changed her life for ever, she said after the two men were jailed by Manchester Crown Court. The girl, who cannot be identified, is now a virtual recluse and feels terrified when approaching an Asian man in the street. “It is not because I am racist or anything like that,” she said. “It simply reminds me of those men – they took away my innocence and my childhood.” The men sought out vulnerable 15-year-old white girls in inner-city Manchester and groomed them for sex with gifts including credit for mobile phones, alcohol and drugs, the court was told. They would impress them with their large cars – one had a safe in the boot – and then take the girls to a flat in the Hulme area of the city. The pair sexually assaulted them while they were intoxicated and, on at least one occasion, under threats of death. It is understood that at least three girls were being groomed but police believe that there may have been others who have yet to come forward. Baig and Ditta, a convicted drug trafficker, were arrested in May 2007 after an investigation by social workers, detectives and community project workers. The men came under suspicion after officers set up a team to examine the problem posed by young Asian men who were grooming impressionable white teenagers for sex and prostitution, notably across the northern conurbations where there are large Asian populations. After a 15-day trial, Baig was convicted of sexual assault and making threats to kill. Ditta was convicted of assault. The two were given indeterminate sentences for the protection of the public and told they would not be considered for release before they had served a minimum of three years, and then perhaps “not for many years”. The jury was told that Baig drove two 15-year-old girls to the flat where they were plied with vodka, cannabis and Ecstasy until they fell unconscious. When one woke later she was punched in the face by Ditta as she fought off his sexual attentions. Two weeks later another vulnerable 15-year-old was brought to the flat by an older girl. The younger girl heard her demanding £20 in payment and that then they could do what they wanted with her. She was also given alcohol and drugs until she fell unconscious. When she awoke she was naked in a bedroom and Baig demanded sex before threatening that he would get a gun and kill her. Ditta interrupted the assault and took her into his bedroom to assault her himself. Judge Anthony Gee, QC, told them: “These were despicable and truly shameless offences. Neither of you have displayed the slightest hint of remorse.” After the hearing the mother of another girl, aged 16, said that she had felt powerless to break her daughter’s fascination for the men, who offered her money and gifts, and drove her around in their cars. “They had nice houses with Jacuzzis in them and that attracted the teenagers,” the mother said. “They would pick her up round the corner and drop her off there too. So I never knew where she really was. I tried to talk to her so many times but she would just say, ‘They are my friends, they wouldn't hurt me’. It did not surprise me to learn there were other girls that had been hurt. In fact, I think there are lots more who just have not come forward.” Detective Constable Andy Spillane, who worked on the case, said: “I am pleased with today’s result, and that Baig and Ditta are now exposed as the kind of men who prey on young girls.”

The anonymous, racially offensive Web posting that inspired a rally against racism at Trinity College in October 2008 was written by a black student who wanted to see how her schoolmates would respond. Lynda Ikejimba's comments disparaged minority students and said their admission to the college correlated with a drop in the college's rankings. Dean of Students Frederick Alford said his office is deciding whether Ikejimba will face discipline. Days after the post appeared, more than 200 students, staff, faculty and administrators attended a rally to reject the comments and show that they embraced diversity. Ikejimba apologized by e-mail Oct. 31. Two days later, about 150 people attended a campus meeting on the matter. Students' opinions ranged from anger and forgiveness toward the post to concern about racial issues on campus, Alford said.

They say the attack happened shortly before at least six people were killed in a bomb blast near a government building in the city. Doctors say the six girls were wearing Islamic burkas or veils which provided them with some protection. The attack is likely to have been carried out by those opposed to the education of women. The former Taleban government - ousted from power in 2001 - banned girls from attending school. "We were going to school on foot when two unknown people on a motorcycle came close to us and threw acid in our faces," 16-year-old Atifa said. "I want to ask the government why they cannot protect us, we girls want to study but the government is not helping us. We want better security." She said the attack took place outside the Mirwais Nika Girls High School. Officials say that two attackers used a toy gun to spray the acid and fled as soon as people came to the assistance of the girls. Atifa said she did not know why anyone would have attacked her and the others. "I don't know why they did it," she said. "Kandahar is not safe. But we can't stay at home, we want an education."

Neighbors were suspicious of the daytime silence at the maternity clinic that came to life only after nightfall, though never suspected its disquieting secret - it was breeding babies for sale. But recent police raids have revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or "factories" in the local press, forcing a new look at the scope of people trafficking in Nigeria. At the hospital in Enugu, a large city in Nigeria's southeast, 20 teenage girls were rescued in May 2008 in a police swoop on what was believed to be one of the largest infant trafficking rings in the west African country. The two-storey building on a dusty street in Enugu's teeming Uwani district now stands deserted, shutters down. Neighbors had long found something bizarre about the establishment, where there was virtually no activity during the day. The doctor in charge, who is now on trial, reportedly lured teenagers with unwanted pregnancies by offering to help with abortion. They would be locked up there until they gave birth, whereupon they would be forced to give up their babies for a token fee of around 20,000 naira (170 dollars, 135 euros). The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything between 300,000 and 450,000 naira (2,500 and 3,800 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). But luck ran out for the gynecologist, said to be in his 50s, when a woman to whom he had sold a day-old infant, was caught by Nigeria's Security and Civil Defence Service (NSCDS) while trying to smuggle the child to Lagos, the security agency said. Statistics on the prevalence of baby breeding are hard to come by, but anti-trafficking campaigners say it is widespread and run by well-organized criminal syndicates. "We believe the scope is much wider than we know," said Ijeoma Okoronkwo, head of NAPTIP. "It has been happening over time, but we did not know. The first indication we had about this came in December 2006, when an NGO raised the alarm and told us babies were being exchanged for cash and that there were a number of hospitals involved," she said. The practice takes varying forms. One is where desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies, fearing ostracism by society, get lured to a clinic and are forced to turn over their babies. The girls are so intimidated many can hardly relate their experience freely. But one brave victim, an 18-year old, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, recounted her week-long ordeal when she was trapped inside one of the clinics days before it was raided by police. "The moment I stepped in there, I was given an injection, I passed out and next thing I woke up and realised I had been raped," the girl, who was five months pregnant at the time of her ordeal, said. When she asked if she could telephone her family to let them know of her whereabouts, the doctor slapped her on the face. She was shoved into a room where 19 other girls were kept; all had been through a similar experience. She said the doctor raped her again the following day. A week later police swooped on the clinic. Another category of young women, driven by deep poverty, lease out their wombs and volunteer themselves, as regularly as is biologically possible, to produce babies for sale. "When we raided the hospital, we found four women who had been staying at the clinic for up to three years, to breed babies," NSDCS boss for Enugu state commandant Desmond Agu said. The doctor, whom police named, "had been inviting boys to come and impregnate girls," said Agu. This was just one of around a dozen centers - masquerading as maternity clinics, foster homes, orphanages or shelters for homeless pregnant girls - unearthed in recent months where babies were swapped for cash, said the NAPTITP boss. In October 2008 police swooped on a so-called foster home, not far from the Enugu police headquarters, where seven teenage pregnant girls and five workers were rounded up, residents said. In 2005, a Lagos-based orphanage suspected of ties to child trafficking rings, was shut down. There, charred baby-bones were discovered on the rubbish tip, leading to suspicion the orphanage was involved in the peddling of human body parts, possibly for use in rituals or for organ harvesting. In other cases observers say babies are purchased to be raised for child labour and sexual abuse or prostitution. Trafficking in humans has become a lucrative trade. Globally, it is estimated that billions of dollars exchange hands annually for payment of humans, according to the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and several UN agencies. Witchcraft rituals also fuel baby trafficking, but experts say it is other motives that predominate, at least in this region of Nigeria. Communities frown on children born out of wedlock and childlessness in marriage remains a curse for the woman. "In the Igbo society, the price to remain childless is too high," said a clinical psychologist Peter Egbigbo. "Childless people want to pay any amount for a child and doctors become rich overnight," he said, adding that those who are ready to adopt a baby would rather hide the fact that it is not their biological child. Exchanging babies for cash is widespread in the region and in many cases locals do not see anything wrong in so doing. "Many people don't even know what they are doing is criminal. They just think it's adoption - you walk into a clinic, pay a fee and you have a baby," said Okoronkwo. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term. It is estimated that globally hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked annually. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, estimates that at least 10 children are sold daily across Nigeria, where human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug trafficking, according to UNESCO. "There is so much profit in this business. There is so much to be made in trafficking and that is why it is thriving."

Monday, November 10, 2008

Young black gay men, black women and white gay men in their 30s and 40s are much more likely to be newly infected with HIV than other groups in the United States, according to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The analysis -- based on figures showing that the HIV infection rate for 2006 is much worse than previously thought -- looks at the number of new HIV infections and who gets them. Within the gay and bisexual group, young black men (13 to 29 years old ) were roughly twice as likely to get infected as young white and young Hispanic men. And among women, black women were almost 15 times more likely to get HIV than white women and almost four times more likely than Hispanic women. White gay and bisexual men account for close to half, or 46%, of HIV incidence among gay and bisexual men, but the majority of new infections occurred in men in their 30s, followed by men in the 40s, the CDC found. African Americans overall accounted for 45% of new HIV infection in 2006, while representing only 12% of the U.S. population. While there were fewer new HIV infections among black women than there were among black men, black women were far more affected by HIV than women of other races.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Apparently increasing the black vote helped Obama at the expense of the gays. In fact, 70% of black voters in California voted for Proposition 8 - a constitutional amendment to declare that marriage in California as only between a man and a woman - and helped secure its passage, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. African Americans, energized by Barack Obama’s presidential bid, boosted their numbers at the polls in 2008 to 10% of the state’s electorate, up from 6% in 2004. "The Obama people were thrilled to turn out high percentages of African Americans, but (Proposition 8) literally wouldn't have passed without those voters," said Gary Dietrich, president of Citizen Voice, a nonpartisan voter awareness organization.

The MPs say the organizers of the summit have refused to cover their travel expenses back to Somalia. They are living in hotels around Nairobi while they wait for the matter to be resolved. The regional meeting was held to review the performance of Somalia's transitional government, nine months before its mandate expires. The government was strongly criticized for failing to bring peace to Somalia, which has not had an effective national government for 17 years. The government needed Ethiopian troops to oust Islamist forces from Mogadishu but they continue to stage attacks. Almost half the population needs food aid. One of the MPs said that the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was supposed to pay their expenses and arrange their flights back to Somalia. Abdul Rashid Mohammed Iro said the UNDP had paid for 27 MPs to fly back to Mogadishu. But the UNDP denied involvement in the matter and said they had not paid for any flights. "If someone invites you, he has to cover your expenses and your transport. That's why we are expecting IGAD to cover our expenses and transport," Mr Iro said. The MPs were now trying to pay for their expenses themselves and go back to Somalia, Mr Iro said. "We are trying to solve our own problems. Sometimes we get paid a salary on monthly basis but the last three months we didn't get any pay," he said.

The government says most of the killings happened in the last 10 months. The latest three occurred just after a rally held in Dar es Salaam in October 2008 to denounce the practice. "Our biggest fear right now is the fear of living. If you leave work at night as an albino, you are unsure of reaching home safely. When you sleep, you are unsure of waking up in one piece," said Zihada Msembo, secretary general of the Tanzania Albino Society. "We marched, the president (Jakaya Kikwete) received us and we said 'now we can have some peace' and slept soundly that night. Next morning, we hear yet another albino was killed that very night." The government says most of the murders occurred in western Tanzania. Police have arrested 53 suspects. The killers sell body parts such as arms, legs, hair, skin and genitals, according to police and albino groups. Those involved in witchcraft, especially in mining and fishing industries, believe these will enrich them, President Kikwete said in October 2008, calling it a "stupid belief." Local media have reported several incidents of victims left to bleed to death. "They are cutting us up like chickens," Msembo said, while pointing to a picture on a wall in her cramped office of a limbless body with the skin on its face peeled off from an incident in 2007. Albinos lack pigment in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Tanzania where there is plenty of sunshine and they are more susceptible to skin cancer and sun burns. Tanzania has more than 200,000 albinos in its 40 million population. Traditionally, midwives were known to kill albino babies, declare them stillborn and bury them secretly. Many other African societies shun albinos and treat them as if they bring misfortune or accuse them of being involved in witchcraft. The latest killings have brought Tanzania unwanted international attention. It was the subject of a September 2008resolution in the European Union parliament condemning the murders. Showing the traffickers' ruthlessness, a reporter who produced an undercover story on the albino body parts trade in late July 2008 went into hiding after receiving death threats. Msembo said many albino children were dropping out of school for fear of being kidnapped. Three albino murders have occurred in neighboring Burundi in 2008. Officials say the assailants were killing at the behest of people in Tanzania. Officials in eastern Burundi said that 24 albinos have fled their villages and gone into towns for fear of slaughter. Nicodeme Gahimbare, a public prosecutor, said the government had arrested two suspects over the murders. "The two who were arrested confessed to the crime and said they got 1 million Burundian francs ($840) from a Tanzanian seeking albino body parts," Gahimbare said. Police also arrested two elderly men. Gahimbare said they confessed to being in touch with a Tanzanian who had promised them three million francs for albino hair. Kazungu Kassim, head of Burundi's albino association, appealed to the government to boost their security. "We are human beings like others, we have a right to live," Msemgo said, adding they had been turned into a commodity. "Our country has earned a reputation that it is doing business with albino body parts, so people in other countries can kill and cross into Tanzania where there is a ready market."

With these words a black police inspector from Tembisa on the East Rand allegedly scolded the victims of an armed robbery and hijacking attempt in Kempton Park. This officer, whose name is known to Beeld, apparently refused to arrest a black suspect on the scene. He also refused to open a case after Nic Lubbe, 51, from Kempton Park West, his daughter, Antoenet Cronjé, and her two sons, Morné, 11, and Kyle, 3, were assailed by robbers. He ostensibly also refused to allow white members of the Norkem Park police to search the suspects' car and called them "white dogs". Lubbe said he was on his way to drop off his daughter and grandchildren at their house in Terrenure at about 23:00 when he saw a grey Corsa bakkie next to the road in Orange River Street. Suddenly the Corsa bakkie's headlights went on to blind Lubbe. Then it was driven into Lubbe's bakkie from behind. Three armed men jumped off the back and grabbed Cronjé's handbag. Lubbe sped away and later returned to the scene with his wife, Mara, 49, and members of the Norkem Park police office. A black inspector from the Tembisa roadblock task team was already there with one of the suspects (the driver of the Corsa). The other three got away. "The inspector said we were white dogs and he told a white policewoman that he would see to it that she was shot dead in a robbery. Then he cocked his R5 (rifle) in my face and said it was time that we whites packed our bags and fucked off out of the country." An eyewitness apparently heard the inspector's offensive remarks. "I saw how these people were robbed, but he protected the criminal."

Friday, November 7, 2008

A study by Statistics Sweden finds that foreign-born women had a fertility rate of 2.21 children per woman, while Swedish-born women reproduced at a rate of 1.82 children per woman. Sweden’s overall fertility rate in 2007 was 1.88 children per woman, below the rate of 2.1 children per woman required to replace the population. Since 1980, the percentage of births registered in Sweden to mothers born outside the country has nearly doubled from 12% to 22%. Part of the increase is thought to be related to the increase in the number of foreign born women of childbearing age which has risen from 11% of women living in Sweden aged 20 to 40-years-old in 1980 to 18% in 2007. According to the report, Sweden’s foreign-born population has increased by more than one million people in the last 50 years and numbered about 1.2 million people in 2007 out of Sweden’s total population of just under 9.2 million. Statistics Sweden projects that Sweden’s foreign-born population will reach 1.7 million by 2050. Entitled ‘Childbearing among native and foreign-born’, the study divides foreign-born women into six different categories corresponding to their country of origin: other Nordic countries, EU countries other than Nordic countries, European countries except the EU and Nordic countries, and countries outside Europe with high, medium or low level of development based on the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI). Women from most of the groupings were found to have a greater likelihood of giving birth to a third or fourth child compared to women born in Sweden. The study’s authors attribute the difference in part to the tendency of newly arrived immigrants to have children shortly after their arrival and in part because some groups of immigrant women are more likely to start having children earlier in life, as well as a tendency for women in Sweden to only have two children. The group with the highest fertility rate includes women born in countries with low-levels of economic development, although rates vary greatly from country to country. Women from Somalia, for example, have the highest fertility rate, averaging 3.9 children per woman in 2007. However, women born in Ethiopia have a fertility rate of only 2.2 children per woman.

Andrew Bolt points out that the racial divide in the United States will remain until there is above all a cultural change within African-American society - a change that will have kids growing up with dutiful fathers at home.

55% of black and Latino borrowers in Boston who had obtained loans for single-family homes in 2005 had been given subprime mortgages; the figure for white borrowers was just 13%. More than 75% of black and Latino borrowers from Washington Mutual were classed as subprime, whereas only 17% of white borrowers were.

74% of American Jews said they would vote for Obama with only 22% saying they would vote for McCain. The poll, which has interviewed over 650 Jewish registered voters each month since June 2008, shows American Jews growing increasingly comfortable with Obama since July, when the Illinois Senator tied up the Democratic Party nomination. The poll shows support for McCain among Jews stood at a high of 34% in June, before beginning its downward turn in July after Obama's nomination.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Kidnappers grabbed a 5-year-old boy from a gritty Mexico City street market, then killed him by injecting acid into his heart — a new low even for Mexico's brutal kidnapping gangs. The boy, Javier Morena, was the oldest son of a poor family that sold fruit at a market in the poor neighborhood of Iztapalapa, proof that the plague of kidnappings for ransom afflicts the working class as well as the wealthy. Javier disappeared while playing at the market on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 Mexico City authorities said. The boy's family spent days looking for him, finally persuading a local television station to post his picture on the news on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008. A taxi driver recognized the boy, and went to the market to find the family. He told them that he had given the boy and a teenager a ride from the market to nearby Mexico state, and that the teenager had told him that the boy was crying because his younger brother had been stolen. The driver dropped the two off a block from the police station, and the teen told him they were meeting the boy's mother there. The family showed the driver a picture of their son, which happened to include the 17-year-old family friend and kidnapper. The driver then confirmed that the teen in the picture had taken the boy. The police raided the 17-year-old's home, and he and his family and two others confessed to having killed the boy before they could ask for a 300,000-peso ($23,000) ransom, Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Mancera said in a statement. Mancera said the assailants injected the boy with acid and buried him on a hill outside the capital. Five suspected kidnappers, including the 17-year-old, are under arrest. It was unclear if the group had carried out other kidnappings.

Hasanali Khoja was told he would be expected to handle pork products at his new job at the Empress State Building in Earls Court, west London. His lawyer said Khoja was excused from pork meat in his previous job at Hendon Police College in north London. An informal agreement was reached with the force but he wants it formalized. An employment tribunal in Watford will consider his claim in May 2009. A Metropolitan Police (Met) spokesman said it was defending a claim of religious discrimination brought against it at an employment tribunal. Islam forbids the consumption of pork meat or products containing pork. Khoja, a senior catering manager, has been working with the Met since 2005 and filed the claim in the tribunal in 2007. He said: "Obviously nobody in my situation would be happy. Pork handling is the issue." His lawyer Khalid Sofi said: "The claim is about his religious beliefs. They failed to accommodate him as they had a duty to do under the law. He would have had to do certain things and bacon would have been involved."

A case of post-election nerves sent stocks plunging Wednesday as investors, again anxious about a recession, began questioning what impact a Barack Obama presidency will have on business and the overall economy. Stocks fell initially as investors cashed in gains after a six-day run that lifted the Standard & Poor's 500 index more than 18%. But the selling picked up momentum as the market worried anew about the weakness of the economy and pondered what an Obama administration might do. Obama will inherit an enormous budget deficit when he is sworn in Jan. 20, 2009. Analysts said that the market is already growing anxious about whom Obama selects as the next Treasury Secretary, as well as whom he picks for other Cabinet positions. "A lot of the policy going forward is going to have an effect on the various sectors of the market," said Joe Keetle, senior wealth manager for Dawson Wealth Management. Obama's victory means that industries such as oil and gas producers, utilities and pharmaceuticals may face greater regulation and even taxes, while labor unions and automakers are expected to benefit. In addition, banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and the rest of the financial sector will almost certainly face attempts at a regulatory overhaul by the Democratic Congress in 2009.

In an election otherwise full of liberal triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat as California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them. The constitutional amendment — widely seen as the most momentous of the nation's 153 ballot measures — will limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where gay unions are legal. Gay-rights activists had a rough election elsewhere as well. Ban-gay-marriage amendments were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.